For more than 60 years, the Jackson Jills have been arranging, singing and performing at Tufts. The Jills were named after Cornelia Maria Jackson, who was the namesake of Jackson College, Tufts’ counterpart for female students at the time of its founding. The name stuck after the schools merged in 1980. Today, the Jills continue to honor their history while looking for new ways to innovate their sound.
As the Jills’ music directors Gwen Draut and Abby Sommers, both seniors, prepare for graduation, they look back on their years in the group. Sommers joined during the fall of her first year after doing a cappella in high school, and Draut joined during the spring of her first year after a chance encounter with a Jill pushed her to audition. Immediately, they became a part of a tight-knit community.
“The minute that you get into the group, everybody currently in the group swarms you with all of this love, and it feels so awesome,” Sommers said.
“It’s overwhelming, but in the best way,” Draut added.
For the Jills, each year is a fresh start: a chance to bring in new leaders and arrange new songs — or adjust the arrangements of familiar songs for a new composition of voices. As members graduate, the group has to reassign and relearn parts to perfect their sound. Each semester begins with song selection, and any member can propose a song that they’d like the group to try out.
During the song selection process, the group can be won over by a convincing pitch, even for a song that may not seem like an obvious choice at first.
“There’s one song in particular I’m thinking of that Abby was so gung-ho on, and nobody saw the vision,” Draut said. “[She wanted] ‘Nothing Else Matters’ by Metallica, and she really fought for that vision, and she ended up changing our minds, and it’s now one of our favorite songs that we’ve done.”
In addition to their live performances, the Jills record three songs each semester, releasing an album every few years. Their latest album, “Game Night,” came out in December 2024. To record their albums, the Jills work with Plaid Productions, a local studio run by two Tufts a cappella alumni affectionately known as the “Alexes.” Each member will spend an hour in the studio by themselves recording their parts, and then the tracks are edited for tuning and timing. For some songs, they’ll add special effects on top of that, like mouth trumpet or guitar, to mimic the sound of an instrument. Recently, the group has added in another step, called “workshopping,” where a small group will record a section together — these small group recordings are then overlaid with the solo vocals to give the songs a more natural, textured sound that often gets lost in the editing process.
The Jills collaborate with other a cappella groups as well: They did a joint show with the Beelzebubs last spring, and they’ll be releasing their first song in collaboration with the Bubs very soon. Draut discussed the advantages of collaborating with another group.
“[With the Beelzebubs,] it’s double the size, so it gets a lot more choral,” Draut said. “The song that we’re going to sing, I think it’s a beautiful arrangement, and it’s very intricate.”
Many of the members have busy schedules on campus, but they always make time for the Jills at the end of the day.
“Designated fun time is how I think of it,” Draut said. “Rehearsals are so enjoyable, and it forces me to stop the grind and take time and do something that’s just for me, which I honestly think has really improved my work-life balance.”
The Jills always start each rehearsal with a check-in, and they’re always ready to support each other when someone is going through a personal challenge.
“Getting into the group in the spring was such a huge change in my college trajectory … knowing there were people who cared about my life and cared about what I had to say,” Draut said. “I feel like I could pretty much say anything in that room.”
Their bond extends beyond rehearsals as well. Sommers, a Film and Media Studies major, has recruited the Jills as extras in her film projects, and is currently making a film about the history of the Jills for her documentary film class.
Draut and Sommers both emphasized how much they’ve grown throughout their time in the Jills, as leaders, as musicians and as people.
“I feel like I’ve expanded my range so much,” Draut said. “I never used to sing low, I was always a soprano before coming to the Jills and now I sing a lot of Alto 2, really low stuff … so I feel like I’ve gained so many skills musically.”
“It has made me a better person and a better friend,” Sommers said. “Being surrounded by people who have been such good friends to me … has taught me a lot about navigating relationships at this very transitional period in our lives.”
